2nd Annual Peaceful Tour of the Dick recap

I had been spying a route on the map for several years and I finally had the gumption to lead a group ride on it last year. The first ever Peaceful Tour of the Dick. The route was awesome. Even though it was only 30ish miles, it was definitely a tough all day route. Good stuff.

We did it again today. We just polished off the 2nd Annual Peaceful Tour of the Dick. A few thought it may be more than they could bite off but everyone but a couple folks managed to see it thru to the end. And what a great ride it was.

After meeting at the shop and getting everyone organized, riders took off between 10:30 and 11am. We had a solid crew. Pedaling south on Sourdough out of Peaceful Valley is never an easy task. After passing Beaver Reservoir, we were getting into our groove.







We had a quick snack break basking in the views of the Indian Peaks.





After some more tech and some more climbing and a very small amount of descending, we found ourselves at Brainard Lake Road. Somebody from Eldora was up there.

Eldora's marketing dept is obviously confused, especially since there are no gravity trails at Eldora and they do not allow bike use in the summer. What gives?


A little later and it was time for Lunch just before embarking on Little Raven. We had views...

Entertainment...


Views...

And fresh natural raspberries.




What could be better? More riding? Fortunately, Little Raven never dissapoints.



Neither do big ass bull moose. I called out to Bullwinkle but he didn't respond. Come to think of it, I didn't see Squirrel either.


After circumnavigating Brainard Lake, we hit the new South St Vrain reroute. Even though we had been riding the trail for years, it passed thru a small chunk of the Indian Peaks Wilderness. The USFS ranger district in these parts are our friends. Thanks to them, it's all legal and ready to roll after a short reroute of the offending section of trail. It's good.


And the traditional, old, "Upper SSV" is always a challenge.



The lower section is pretty good, too.



After popping out onto the highway at the bottom of SSV, we had a 3-4 mile dirt road climb ahead of us. That one was a real deal breaker. A few of us pulled out to go back to Peaceful Valley. The rest of us pushed on up Coney Flats Road. Coney Flats isn't, by the way. About 1/2way up Coney Flats, you come to a section where you can take a no motorized route or the jeep road. Both come out at the same place. Never knowing which was faster before, we decided to send folks in both directions to ascertain the outcome of max efficiency. Chris, and I, along with a few others, took the pedestrian only route. It was good. It was more direct but definitely tougher. I told Chris that it was good that we took this route, otherwise, it would be a Redstone ride without at least a little hike a bike.


I've got a reputation to uphold :) It's not mountain biking unless you're hiking.

There were some fun bits, too. It wasn't entirely a slog.
Back on Coney Flats road for one last fun jeep road descent.



Then onwards toward the cherry on top, Buchanan Pass trail.



Notice the smile :)


No more pics of the ride. I was done by then and too tired for more snapping. I had to focus on riding. We'd been out just over 6 hours at this point so focus was key.

We wrapped up just under 6.5 hours. We took about an hour off of last years time and we even had a bigger crew this year - right around 18 riders give or take. We dropped off a few and picked up a few. Ride time was just over 4 hours with the rest of the time dedicated to lunch, snacking, fixing flats, etc. I think we got in around 4500 feet of climbing. That doesn't sound too bad until you factor in the rocks. Damn rocks. I'm frickin tired now. Good night. And thanks for coming out y'alls!